More technical considerations: What are the principal changes that take place in the equatorial Pacific Ocean when El Niño occurs?
Before El Niño occurs the Pacific trade winds blow steadily from east to west across the Pacific. To maintain its balance the ocean must “lean into” the wind by being higher in the west than in the east (like a person leaning windward in a gale), thus creating a “pressure gradient force” toward the east in opposition to the westward wind stress. Under these normal conditions the height of the ocean surface in the western equatorial Pacific is greater than in the eastern Pacific by a few tens of centimeters. The near surface temperature in the west is about 10C (20F) greater than in the east and the thickness of the upper warm layer of the ocean is about 120 meters in the west as opposed to only 30-40 meters in the east. At the onset of El Niño conditions the trade winds slacken across much of the basin. The eastward tilt of the sea surface is then unbalanced and a series of ocean responses occur over a half-year period that lead to a more nearly flattened sea surface with less east-wes
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